John mcphebson



UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN MOPHERSON, OF WELLSVILLE, NEVV YORK.

DEVICE FOR MOISTENING TOBACCO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 387,095, dated July 31,1888. Application filed February 7, 1888. Serial No. 263,228. (Nomodel.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN MoPHERsoN, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Wellsville,in the county of Allegany and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices forMoistening Tobacco; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, which form apart of this specification, and in which Figure l is a perspective viewof a tub or pail adapted to hold tobacco and provided with myimproveddevice for moistening the same. Fig. 2 is a perspective detail view ofthe device removed from the pail. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional Viewthrough the pail and the device suspended within the same, and Fig. 4 isa detail viewiu section of one of the ductile straps.

Like letters of reference denote corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

My invention has relation to means for moistening tobacco and othermaterial packed in tubs, pails, or analogous vessels; and it consists inthe peculiarlyconstructed receptacle hereinafter described, which isadapted to be suspended inside of the pail or other package whichcontains the tobacco and to contain water or other liquid, so that thecontents of the pail or box will be kept at a proper degree of moistureby the evaporation of the Water or other liquid contained in thereceptacle.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, A denotes the tub, pail, box, orbarrel,which may be of any suitable size, shape, or construction, and isprovided with a suitable cover, B.

C denotes a vessel, preferably made of sheet metal,and of such a shapethat it will [it closely against the sides of the pail or tub withinwhich it is to be used. As a matter of convenience, I prefer toconstruct this vessel 0 from sheet metal by means of a suitable die, soas to avoid seams and thereby prevent leakage. Upon that side of thevessel 0 which impinges upon the inner side of the tub or pail, I formapertures G, through which the lower hooked ends, E, of the straps D areinserted. The

opposite ends of these straps are bent to form the hooks D, while theintermediate portions are also provided with hooks F, which pro jectdownward nearly to the points of the hooks E, and will thus prevent thereceptacle becoming accidentally detached from the straps. The hooksFare preferablystruek up from the body of the straps, as shown moreclearly in Fig. 4. These straps D D must be made of some kind of ductilemetal, so that they may readily be bent without breaking, and so thatwhen bent they will remain in proper shape.

The use of the device will be readily understood by reference to thedrawings without re quiring further explanation.

After the package of tobacco has been opened, aportion ofits contents isscooped out on one side, so as to make room for the insertion of thevessel 0, which is held in place by doubling the straps D D over theedge of the pail and bending them down against the outside of the same.The vessel is then filled with water or any other suitable liquid andthe cover placed over the tub or pail,when, by the gradual evaporationof the contents of the vessel, the tobacco or other material will bepermeated with the moisture, so as to keep the same in proper conditionand prevent it from drying. As the contents of the vessel are graduallyremoved, the vessel may be lowered simply by straightening out thestraps, placing the vessel lower down toward thebottom of the pail, asindicated in dotted lines, and then again bending the straps across therim of the pail, said straps being of sufficient length to admit of thegradual lowering of the vessel within the pail or tub.

Having thus described my invention, I desire it to be understood that Ido not limit my self to any particular shape or configuration ofthevessel 0, so that the side of the same which is provided with thesuspending-straps D D may be made of such a shape and outline that itwill conform to the inner side of the receptacle within which it is tobe placed, thereby bearing firmly against the same and preventing itfrom being upset or otherwise displaced while in the tub.

Instead of filling the vessel 0 with fluid, it may serve as a receptaclefor a sponge, orfor ICO asbestus and other bibulous material adapted toabsorb water, which will answer the same purpose as filling the vesselwith liquid.

I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States Thecombination of a receptacle for tobacco and other material with a vesselmade of suitable material, of such a shape that one of its sides isadapted to impinge against the inner side of the tobacco-receptacle, andhaving formed in that side apertures, ductile straps having their upperand lower ends bent to form hooks, the lower ones of which engage theapertures in the side of the vessel and the other ones engaging theupper edge of the to- 15 bacco-receptacle, and hooks struck up from thebody of the straps and extending downward toward the hooks at the lowerends thereof, substantially as setv forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my 20 own I have hereuntoaffixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN MOPHERSON.

Witnesses:

O. A. FULLER, RUFUs SCOTT.

